Spiral Read Online Free PDF Page A

“Brenton, let it go.” I’ve got to try to keep some order around here. I may not have power over what the girls do, but I can prevent my little brother from continuing the fight.
    My tone falls on deaf ears as Claudia scoffs, “She was totally mean to you, Brenton! Why do you even care?” I kind of have to agree with her there, but my brother doesn’t care.
    “Brenton.” My eyes dart to him to stay quiet.
    Brenton, however, is indignant. “That doesn’t matter! You’re just jealous of her!” I kind of agree with him, too. I’m feeling helpless, a mere spectator to this catastrophic game of nasty ping pong.
    But I try anyway. “Stop –”
    Claudia throws her napkin at him and shouts, “Go play with your imaginary friend!” It misses him and whizzes right past my nose.
    “Hey!” I cry out as I watch it slap against Leroy’s face.
    Brenton gets up, punching the table with both fists. “I will! At least I’m not a Miley Cyrus wanna be!” He throws a bread roll that almost clocks Britney in the head.
    “Cut it out!” I bellow, leaning in front of my little sister and blocking the roll.
    “She started it!”
    “No, you did!”
    I jump up and yell, “I said cut it out!”
    And that’s when they, the suspicious adults who are suddenly attuned to the commotion, fill the doorway of the family room. That moment, which should end up on the cutting room floor, is all they see. They’re all there: Jim, Mom, Grandma, Jim’s mother and father, and Cherie’s parents. The adults see me, and only me, on my feet and red with anger, yelling, as the table clears in a heartbeat. Brenton stampedes up to his room. Britney whimpers beside me. Claudia lets out a scream-growl and storms away in the opposite direction.
    I only care about my little sister right now. “I’m sorry, Brat,” I murmur softly, sitting down to comfort her.
    But she pulls away. “I’m not eating with these freaks!” She scampers off before anyone can catch her. I am left alone at the table with Leroy.
    “Claud, what’s going on?” Jim calls after her.
    “I’m not hungry!” Claudia cries out. A door slams. The adults, minus Darla, look at me as if I’m somehow responsible for what has happened. Cherie’s parents, Mark and Camille, shake their heads at me. Leroy is reading again as if none of this has happened in front of him. He might as well be putting a finger to his nose and shouting,
“Not it!”
    My mom is afraid to say my name. Or too angry to say it. “J – boys, what happened here?”
    I feel a thousand times worse than she does, but there’s no way to convince her it wasn’t my fault.
    “They were all just…just… being mean, Mom,” I sort of whine. I didn’t know what to say without going through every detail. Jim looks at me sternly and shakes his head. I have to hold back the glower I want to give him. He doesn’t know how cruel and inhuman his daughters are, he only knows about my violent past, so I’m immediately the problem.
    Still, I can’t shake the guilt that somehow I am actually responsible for this debacle. One look at my mom’s disappointed frown tells me that I’m accurate in my assessment.
    My mom and Jim march up the stairs, and the other adults return to the main dining room in muted mumbles, leaving me alone with Leroy.
    “Well, that’s one way to clear a table,” Leroy nervously jokes as the room clears. “I guess that means more food for us.”
    I do everything I can to control my anger, concentrating it all into my tightening hand until I crunch my empty soda can. Leroy keeps his eyes forward, and I can tell he’s afraid he’ll be next.
    I mutter, “Those girls ruin everything. I can’t take them anymore! Look at me – I’m so angry, I’m sweating like a pig!”
    Leroy closes his book slowly. “Many teenage boys suffer from night sweats.”
    I turn in my chair to look at him, and he flinches. I clench my jaw, hating that my whole family still perceives me as some kind of loose